Reducing Your Costs
Automotive customers continually need to reduce the cost of bought-out parts.
Case Studies
CAR INTERIOR TORSION SPRINGS
The Problem
With only one month to a model change the customer could not find an acceptable solution to their problem – the customer’s engineer was having great difficulty designing a spring with sufficient load for a glove box lid and pressure was building as the deadline approached. An Advanex sales person brought the customer’s engineer and their product to our prototype factory in Koriyama to help solve the problem.
The Solution
For this difficult problem Advanex were able to beat the customer’s deadline through:
- Rapid prototyping and testing at the Advanex development centre in Koriyama
- Excellent support and communication
- Advanced methods and knowledge
The customer’s problem was that if the spring load was too high the glove box lid would not open but if it was too low the vibrations coming from the car would cause the lid to open. The engineer tested many variations of spring but could not find an optimum solution.
With the deadline fast approaching, the engineer made a drawing of the spring and sent it to the Advanex prototype facility in Koriyama. Based on this drawing, using the advantages of numerical control machines and specialists, samples were prepared in increments of 1 Newton around the engineer’s calculated optimum load.
The customer’s engineer then visited this facility and was presented with the spring samples, whereby he fitted them to the glove box and lid assembly. Choosing the best spring, the engineer returned to the customer’s site and proved that the spring passed the durability tests.
However, during assembly, the engineer discovered that there was a possible risk of injury due to the sharp end of the spring. The engineer redesigned the spring to remove this risk and sent the drawings back to Advanex. The spring was redesigned and further improved and finally after several trials the ideal spring was supplied within the customer’s one month deadline.
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Specifications
Product |
Torsion spring |
Forming Method |
NC machine |
Location |
Japan |
Customer |
Plastic parts manufacturer |
Application |
Car glove box |
Market |
Automotive |
Leadtime |
One month after development request |
Purpose |
To have a specific required load |
Solution |
Prototyping and testing, development speed |
Customers Benefit |
Exceeded expectations with a very fast lead time |